Rumor: Warner Bros. Seeking Older Batman for BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN

While this year’s San Diego Comic-Con was filled with plenty of moments that had the crowd going wild, no one blew the roof off the place quite like Zack Snyder when he marched out and announced that the Man of Steel sequel will in fact be a Batman vs. Superman movie. Though the news in and of itself would have been enough to rile fans up, the announcement was made considerably more impactful when, before even uttering the word “Batman,” Snyder brought out Man of Steel actor Harry Lennix to read an excerpt from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. Screaming ensued, goosebumps were felt, and hyperventilations were witnessed.

While Snyder is currently working with screenwriter David S. Goyer on the proposed Man of Steel follow-up, we know very little about how exactly The Bat will be portrayed in the superhero pic. However, a new rumor has surfaced claiming that the studio is looking to cast an older actor in the role, playing a more experienced version of the character. Hit the jump for more.

Before Snyder introduced the reading of that excerpt from The Dark Knight Returns at Comic-Con, the director prefaced the moment by making it clear that they weren’t going to be adapting the comic for this next film—it was just something that was going to “help tell this story.” However, Batman vs. Superman might share one crucial element with Miller’s graphic novel, because the folks over at Batman on Film are hearing that Warner Bros. is looking to cast an actor in his mid-40s to play a version of Batman who is “a grizzled veteran who has been on the job for several years.”

If true, this wouldn’t be an incredibly surprising turn of events. Christopher Nolan has been adamant that his Dark Knight Trilogy is a standalone set of films so WB can’t exactly bank on using Christian Bale’s Batman or many elements from that series, and rebooting Batman as a younger character would force us to sit through the origin story yet again (we get it, Bruce, your parents died and it was sad). I think the smart route is to bring in an older, established Batman who can serve as a mentor to Henry Cavill’s young and very inexperienced Superman—perhaps he can teach him to cut down on the amount of collateral damage that results from his tussels?

If this rumor is indeed true, it’s likely that WB’s age range for the actor to play the new Batman is probably somewhere between the mid-30s and mid-40s. Goyer and Snyder are currently collaborating on the story, after which Goyer will pen the screenplay, so it may be a while before we hear any firm casting news on that front. That being said, production on Batman vs. Superman (or Superman vs. Batman—the title has yet to be decided upon) must get underway sometime next year in order to make the proposed 2015 release date, so expect movement to progress quickly.If Warner Bros. is really looking for an older actor to take on the Batman character, in my mind there’s only one real man for this job: Jon Hamm.

What say you, dear readers? If WB is casting an actor in his mid-30s to mid-40s, who do you think should play Batman opposite Henry Cavill’s Superman?